Lynn Berry and Margaret Knight
Eucalypt
Surrounded by the beauty of the Australian
bush in Cowes, Victoria (Australia), it didn't take long for us to agree on our
interpretation of the "one" colour theme for this year's freeform challenge.
The colour we have chosen is Eucalypt.
Marg's growing interest in natural dyeing
inspired us to experiment with dyeing various fibres ... wool, mohair and
cotton; and for this project we used the leaves, bark and flowers from the
large variety of eucalypt species found around Marg's home.
We used very little mordant, and even
though we expected some variation in shade from the different eucalypt
materials we used, we were quite surprised by the range of colour achieved
depending on the species, the part of the tree, the age of the materials and
the treatment of the dye.
Our piece is constructed entirely of
crochet ... and to this day we still struggle to name the basic shape we have
used: variously called pods, pots, spores, gumnuts or polyps.
